WAZOBIA REIGNS!

By TESS ONWUEME

A popular Feminist Drama, "Wazobia Reigns!" dramatizes the politics of gender and power transition with significant impact on the role and place of women in society.

Anioma Kingdom has appointed the young woman Wazobia regent for only a season in the transitional period after the death of the male King, as tradition demands. The

• Language: English
• Publisher: International Images Net
• Release date: Jun 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9780996985673

Book preview

WAZOBIA REIGNS!

a play

by

Tess Onwueme, 2016

Description: Description: Description: LOGO for INTERNATIONAL IMAGES NET copy

International Images Net

Nigeria and USA

The play was first published in 1988 by Heinemann Educational Books, Ltd. with the title, ‘The Reign of Wazobia’. Other editions of the play followed in 1993, 2000 and 2014.

The current revised edition of the drama is the imprint of International Images Net & Ruby Gold Literary Agency and Publishing, Ltd. Head Office: 18 Bersario Close, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Copyright © Tess Onwueme, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-9969856-6-6

All rights reserved.

No part of this play may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Selections: 2016

Friction, Drama, Women Studies, Feminist/Gender Studies, World Literature, African Literature/Drama, Myth, Politics, Sociology, Postcolonial and Cultural Studies.

Invoking––

Mama

My Mother

Every Woman––

buried Beneath the Rubble Of Power

eating the sands of time

calling now mother… woman wounded

arise!

weep not!

for zillion years

men have oiled their muscles

with your tears

say ‘no’

now

mother

wounded woman

arise

rise!

and weep not

no more!

International Production History of Wazobia Reigns!

Since its first publication by Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria in 1988, The Reign of Wazobia has enjoyed remarkable international acclaim with popular reception and demand in worldwide academic and public stages in the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, India, all around Africa and the Commonwealth countries. The 2000 feature film version (Wazobia!) broke yet another drama history tradition in Nigeria –– indeed Africa––as a Feminist Drama by the same woman to be adapted to film in the male-dominated dramatic stage in Africa. These solidified Tess Onwueme’s pioneering Feminist role/place in the continent, especially following the unprecedented adaptation and nationwide broadcast of the author’s Broken Calabash by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) to mark the 1985 Silver Jubilee Celebration of the Nigerian Independence––and long before today’s vogue of  Nollywood home videos.

THE REIGN OF WAZOBIA

CAST

WAZOBIA:       King-Surrogate and Regent of Ilaa in Anioma Kingdom. Age: 30.

KAANEBI: Wazobia’s Mother and later Queen Mother. Age: 57.

{QUEEN ANEHE}:

{QUEEN WA}:

{QUEEN ZO}:

{QUEEN BIA}: The late King's Wives and Wazobia’s Queens/Wives. Age 35-60.

OMU:

HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE OMU:       Traditional Leader of the marketplace/Economy of the Land. Age: 68.

{IYASE}:

{IDEHEN}:

{OZOMA}: The Male Chiefs of Anioma Kingdom. Age: 50-70.

PRIEST OF ANI & OHENE: as the Land/Earth/River Goddesses.

MAN: Woman’s Husband. Also plays the role of Drummer and Town Crier. Age: 35-55.

WOMAN: Man’s Wife. Age 25-35.

CHORUS OF ILAAA: The Maidens, Drummers, Dancers, Man, Woman, and even Kaanebi may be drawn from this group for cast economy.

PROLOGUE

(Anioma kingdom. It is night, but the moon slowly tears through the clouds, perforating the sky to expose the bare beauty and essence of the pastoral kingdom. As if to reveal more, the moon races beyond the clouds and finally gathers momentum to converge a pool of light focused at the center of Anioma kingdom. At this center is an empty throne with an effigy of the late king (Oba-Ogiso). Next is WAZOBIA in an outfit similar to that of the late king. She stands equidistant from the palace throne and the surrounding huts making up the community. This portion right in front of the throne where WAZOBIA stands is the village-square. It comprises the sacred grounds with the ‘ikenga’ and ‘ofor’--carved ancestral and manhood insignias at the King's ‘Ogwa’ being the converging market-square and meeting ground of the Living and the Dead. At the extreme right of this village square is the stump of an Iroko tree, symbolically beheaded as if it is a flag flying at half-mast to mark the recent departure of King Ogiso. The flute plays somber tunes in the background, and finally rises to a crescendo until overtaken by the vibrant rhythm of drums. A woman, nubile and sensuous, floats in with